Air France (France)

Air France La Compagnie Air France
IATA AF	ICAO AFR	Callsign AIRFRANS
Founded		1933
Hubs		Charles de Gaulle Airport
Focus cities		Orly Airport Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport Nice Côte d'Azur Airport
Frequent flyer program		Flying Blue
Member lounge		Departures Lounge
Alliance		SkyTeam
Fleet size		393 (+105 orders)[1]
Destinations		185
Parent company		Air France-KLM
Company slogan		"Making the sky the best place on Earth" ("Faire du ciel le plus bel endroit de la terre")
Headquarters		Roissy, France
Key people		Jean-Cyril Spinetta (Chairman and CEO), Pierre-Henri Gourgeon (COO), Philippe Calavia (CFO)
Website: http://www.airfrance.com

Air France (formally Société Air France) is one of the world's largest airlines. Air France is based in Paris, France, and is a subsidiary of Air France-KLM Group. It operates worldwide scheduled passenger and cargo services to 185 destinations in 83 countries. Its global hub is at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. Paris Orly Airport, Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport and Nice Côte d'Azur Airport are secondary hubs.^[2].

Prior to the merger with KLM, Air France was France's primary national flag carrier, employing 71,654 people in March 2004.^[3] By March 2007, the airline employed 102,422 staff.^[2]

The company's corporate headquarters which was at first in Paris downtown moved to Roissy-Charles de Gaulle north of Paris by CDG Airport. This is where the headquarters of Air France-KLM is now. Between April 2001 and March 2002 the airline carried 43.3mn passengers and had total revenues of 12.53bn. Régional, Air France's regional airline subsidiary operates the majority of its regional domestic and European scheduled services with a fleet of regional jet and turboprop aircraft.^[4] Air France is also accredited by IATA with the IATA Operations Safety Audit (IOSA) for its safety practices.^[5]

According to Air France-KLM, the company's principal activities are:

• Passenger transport: first European airline with 25.5% of market share (November 2004) and largest airline in the world in terms of operating revenue.
• Freight transport: largest company for international freight transportation without integration. With integration, Air France-KLM is third worldwide behind FedEx and UPS.
• Airplane maintenance and repair: largest multi-services operator.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Air France-KLM merger 1.2 New transatlantic profit and revenue sharing joint venture 2 Destinations 3 Fleet 3.1 Passenger 3.2 Cargo 3.3 Orders 3.4 Fleet history 4 Cabin 4.1 L'Espace Première 4.2 L'Espace Affaires 4.3 Tempo 4.4 Alizé 5 Codeshare agreements 6 Subsidiaries 7 Incidents and accidents 8 Livery 8.1 Current Livery 8.2 Previous Liveries 9 Additional facts 10 References 11 External links

History

This article or section may contain an inappropriate mixture of prose and timeline. Please help convert this timeline into prose or, if necessary, a list.

Air France was formed on October 7, 1933 as a merger of Air Orient, Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, Société Générale de Transport Aérien (SGTA) - the first commercial airline company in France founded as Lignes Aériennes Farman in 1919 - Air Union and Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne (CIDNA). The constituent members had already built extensive networks across Europe, to French colonies in North Africa and farther afield.

During World War II, Air France moved to Casablanca, Morocco.

On June 26, 1945, all French air transport companies were nationalised. On December 29, 1945 a decree of the French government granted Air France the management of the entire French air transport network.

Air France appointed its first flight attendants in 1946. The same year the airline opened its first air terminal at Les Invalides in central Paris. It was linked to Paris Le Bourget Airport, Air France's first operations and engineering base, by coach. At that time the network covered 160,000 km, claimed to be the longest in the world.^[6]

Société Nationale Air France was set up on January 1, 1946.

Air France inaugurated direct scheduled service between Paris and New York on July 1, 1946. Douglas DC-4 piston-engined airliners covered the route in just under 20 hours.^[6]

In 1946 and 1948, respectively, the French government authorised the creation of two private airlines: Transports Aériens Internationaux - later Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux - (TAI) and SATI (which became Union Aéromaritime de Transport [UAT] in 1949).^[6]

In 1948 Air France operated one of the largest fleets in the world, 130 aircraft.^[6]

Compagnie Nationale Air France was created by act of parliament on June 16, 1948. Initially, the government held 70%. In subsequent years the French state's direct and indirect shareholdings reached almost 100%. In mid-2002 the state held 54%.^[6][7]

On August 4, 1948 Max Hymans was appointed president. During 13 years he implemented modernisation centred on introduction of jet aircraft. In 1949 the company became a co-founder of Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques (SITA).^[6]

In 1952 Air France moved its operations and engineering to the new Paris Orly Airport South terminal. By that time the network had further expanded, covering 250,000km.^[6]

On September 26, 1953 the government instructed Air France to share long-distance routes with new private airlines. This was followed by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport's imposition of an accord on Air France, Aigle Azur, TAI and UAT, under which some routes to Africa, Asia and the Pacific were transferred.^[6]

On February 23, 1960 the Ministry of Public Works and Transport transferred Air France's domestic monopoly to Air Inter. To compensate, Air France was given a stake in Air Inter. On February 24, 1960 Air France was instructed to share African routes with Air Afrique and UAT.^[6][7]

On February 1, 1963 the government formalised division of routes between Air France and its private sector rivals. Air France was to withdraw services to West Africa (with the exception of Senegal), Central Africa (except Burundi and Rwanda), Southern Africa (including South Africa), Libya in North Africa, Bahrain and Oman in the Middle East, Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon) in South Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand as well as New Caledonia and Tahiti. These routes were allocated to the new UTA (the result of a merger between TAI and UAT). UTA also obtained exclusive rights between Japan, New Caledonia and New Zealand, South Africa and Réunion island in the Indian Ocean, as well as Los Angeles and Tahiti.^[6][7]

From 1974 Air France began shifting the bulk of operations to a new Charles de Gaulle Airport. By the early 1980s only Corsica, Martinique, Guadeloupe, most services to French Guyana, Réunion, the Maghreb region, Eastern Europe (except the USSR), Southern Europe (except Greece and Italy) and one daily service to New York JFK remained at Orly.

On January 21, 1976 Air France operated its inaugural supersonic transport (SST) service on the Paris Charles de Gaulle to Rio (via Dakar) route. Supersonic services from Paris CDG to New York JFK (the only remaining Concorde service until its end) as well as from Paris CDG to Washington D.C. commenced the following year. Paris to New York was covered in three hours and 23 minutes, about twice the speed of sound. Approval for flights to the United States was initially withheld due to noise protests. Eventually, services to Mexico City via Washington, D.C. were started as well.

Air France has codeshared with a number of regional French airlines. TAT was the most prominent. It applied Air France livery to several of its aircraft on Air France's regional international routes.^[8]

By 1983, Air France's golden jubilee, the workforce numbered more than 34,000, its fleet about 100 jet aircraft (including 33 Boeing 747s) and its 634,400 km network served 150 destinations in 73 countries. This made Air France the fourth-largest scheduled passenger airline in the world, as well as the second-largest scheduled freight carrier.^[6]

In 1986 the government unexpectedly relaxed its policy of dividing traffic rights for scheduled services between Air France, Air Inter and UTA, without route overlaps between them. The decision opened some of Air France's most lucrative routes on which it had enjoyed a government-sanctioned monopoly since 1963 and which were within its exclusive sphere of influence, to rival airlines, notably UTA. The changes enabled UTA to launch scheduled services to new destinations within Air France's sphere, in competition with that airline. Paris-San Francisco became the first route UTA served in competition with Air France non-stop from Paris. Air France responded by extending some non-stop Paris-Los Angeles services to Papeete, Tahiti, which competed with UTA on Los Angeles-Papeete. UTA's ability to secure traffic rights outside its traditional sphere in competition with Air France was the result of a campaign to lobby the government to enable it to grow faster, becoming more dynamic and more profitable. This infuriated Air France.^[9]

On January 12, 1990 the operations of government-owned Air France, semi-public Air Inter and wholly private UTA were merged into an enlarged Air France.^[10] Air France's acquisition of UTA and Air Inter was part of an early 1990s government plan to create a unified, national carrier with the economies of scale and global reach to counter potential threats from the liberalisation of the EU's internal air transport market.^[11]

On August 31, 1994 Stephen Wolf, a former United Airlines CEO, was appointed adviser to the Air France group's chairman Christian Blanc. Wolf has been credited with the introduction of Air France's hub and spoke operation at Paris Charles de Gaulle. (Wolf resigned in 1996 to take over as CEO at US Airways.)^[12][13]

A new holding company, Groupe Air France, was set up by decree on July 25, 1994. Groupe Air France became operational on September 1, 1994. It acquired the Air France group's majority shareholdings in Air France and Air Inter (subsequently renamed Air France Europe).

In 1997 Air France Europe was absorbed into Air France.

On February 10, 1999 Lionel Jospin's Plural Left government approved the airline's partial privatisation. Its shares were listed on the Paris stock exchange on February 22, 1999.

In June 1999 Air France and Delta Air Lines formed a bilateral transatlantic partnership. On June 22, 2000 this expanded into the SkyTeam global airline alliance.^[6].^[2]

Air France-KLM merger

On September 30, 2003, Air France and Netherlands-based KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, announced the merger of the two airlines, the new company to be known as Air France-KLM. The merger became reality on May 5, 2004. At that point former Air France shareholders owned 81% of the new firm (44% owned by the French state, 37% by private shareholders), former KLM shareholders the rest. The decision of the Jean-Pierre Raffarin government to reduce the French state's shareholding in the former Air France group from 54.4% to 44% of the newly created Air France-KLM Group effectively privatised the new airline. In December 2004 the state sold 18.4% of its equity in Air France-KLM. The state's shareholding in Air France-KLM subsequently fell to just under 20%.^[2]

Air France-KLM is the largest airline in the world in terms of operating revenues, and third-largest (largest in Europe) in passenger kilometers.^[2]

Air France-KLM is part of the SkyTeam alliance with Aeroflot, Delta Air Lines, Aeroméxico, Korean Air, Czech Airlines, Alitalia, Northwest Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Air Europa and Continental Airlines. Air France and KLM continue to fly under their own brand names.

New transatlantic profit and revenue sharing joint venture

On October 17, 2007 the creation of a fully integrated profit and revenue-sharing transatlantic joint venture between Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines was announced during a press conference at Air France-KLM's Roissy-Charles de Gaulle headquarters. The venture will become effective on March 29, 2008. It will exploit new transatlantic opportunities to capture a major share of lucrative long-haul business traffic from London's Heathrow Airport, which will open to unrestricted competition on that day as a result of the "Open Skies" pact between the EU and US. It is envisaged that Air France and Delta, as well as fellow SkyTeam members Continental and Northwest, will begin nine daily round trips between Heathrow and destinations in the US, including a daily Heathrow-Los Angeles service by Air France. Once the new Air France-Delta venture has received antitrust immunity, it will extend to the other two transatlantic SkyTeam partners. This will enable all four partners to codeshare flights as well as to share revenue and profit.^[14][15]

The new transatlantic joint venture marks the Air France-KLM Group's second major expansion in the London market, following the launch of CityJet-operated short-haul routes from London City Airport that have been aimed at business travellers in the City's financial services industry.^[14]

Destinations

Main article: Air France destinations

Most of Air France's international flights operate from Paris Charles de Gaulle. Air France also has a strong presence at Paris Orly and Lyon Saint-Exupéry. Some flights operate out of Nice Côte d'Azur Airport. Air France has just initiated daily direct flights from London-Heathrow to Los Angeles, in line with the new OpenSkies agreement. This flight is codeshared with Delta Air Lines, who have also begun long-haul services out of Heathrow.

Fleet

Passenger

The Air France passenger fleet in December 2007:^[16]

Air France Fleet

Aircraft	Total	Passengers (First/Business/Economy)	Routes	Notes
Airbus A318-100	18	118* 123	Short-medium haul Europe, Africa
Airbus A319-100	39	133* - 136* 138 - 142	Short-medium haul Africa, Europe, Middle East
Airbus A319-115LR	6	79 (28/51)	Dedicate Services	Equipped with lie-flat seats in business class
Airbus A320-100/200	68 (46 orders)	160* - 166* 165 - 172	Short-medium haul Africa, Caribbean,[17] Europe, Middle East
Airbus A321-100/200	15	196* - 200* 206	Short-medium haul Africa, Europe, Middle East
Airbus A330-200	16	222 (40/182)	Long haul Chicago, Detroit, Dubai, Houston, New York City, Philadelphia, Rio de Janeiro, Seattle, Tokyo, and several long-haul African routes
Airbus A340-300	19	272 (36/236) 289 (30/259)	Long haul Antananarivo, Atlanta, Bangkok (Summer), Bogota, Cayenne, Guangzhou, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York City, Papeete, San Francisco (Winter), Sao Paulo, Tehran, Toronto (Winter), and long-haul African routes
Airbus A380	(12 orders) (2 options)	538 (9/80/449) [18]	Long haul	Entry into service: April 2009 Paris-Montreal & New York
Boeing 747-400	10	433 (39/394) 474 (17/457)	Long haul Bangkok (Winter), Boston, Caracas, Delhi, La Havana, Mauritius, Miami, Montreal (x2), Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco (Summer), Santo Domingo, Seoul, Toronto (Summer)	To be phased out Replacement aircraft: Airbus A380 Boeing 777-300ER
Boeing 777-200ER	25	264 (4/49/211)	Long haul Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong, Houston, Mexico, Montreal, Mumbai, New York City, Santiago, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, Washington, DC, Los Angeles
Boeing 777-300ER	25 (25 orders)	310 (8/67/235) 325 (8/67/250) 472(14/36/422)	Long haul Beijing, Buenos Aires, Fort de France, La Réunion, Los Angeles, Montreal, Mumbai, New York City, Osaka, Pointe à Pitre, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo	Launch customer

^{*Short haul aircraft base L'Espace Affaires seating amounts by demand.}

The average fleet age of Air France is 9.1 years as of March 2008.^[19]

Cargo

Aircraft	Total	Notes
Boeing 747-400BCF	4	2 More to be added after being converted from passenger configuration to cargo
Boeing 747-400ERF	6	Includes one aircraft loaned from KLM until 2008
Boeing 777F	(10 orders)	To be delivered

Orders

• On 24 May 2007 Air France announced it was planning to phase out the 747 by 2012, and placed an order for an additional 13 Boeing 777-300ERs and five Boeing 777-200Fs. The airline had also converted options for two more A380s into firm orders. This will bring the total of these aircraft for Air France to 33 Boeing 777-300ERs, 10 Boeing 777-200Fs, and 12 A380-800.^[20]
• On 22 February 2005 Air France ordered a further four Boeing 777-300ERs, adding to 10 previously ordered (four delivered). The airline had previously ordered 18 Boeing 777-200ERs.
• Air France has ordered 12 Airbus A380 aircraft, with options on a further two. Delivery will start in 2009. The A380 will be used from Paris to Montréal and New York and as additional aircraft arrive, to Beijing and Tokyo.^[21]
• On 20 May 2005 Air France signed an agreement with Boeing to have three of its former Boeing 747-400 Combi aircraft - currently operated in all-passenger configuration - converted to the Boeing 747-400SF Special Freighter model. The modified aircraft will accelerate the phasing-out of the remaining, aging Boeing 747-200F freighters.^[22].
• On 23 May 2005 Air France agreed to buy five 777 Freighters (with three further options), making it the launch customer of the 777 Freighter along with Air Canada, which ordered two. Air Canada later canceled its order due to bankruptcy restructuring. First delivery will be in late 2008, starting the replacement of the airline's Boeing 747-200F fleet.^[22].

Fleet history

Air France entered the jet age in 1953 with the original, short-lived De Havilland Comet series 1, the world's first jetliner.

The airline started uninterrupted pure jet operations in 1960 with the Sud Aviation Caravelle and the Boeing 707. It was also a major operator of the Vickers Viscount turboprop.

Air France was an early Boeing 747 operator. It eventually operated one of the world's largest 747 fleets.

In 1974 Air France became a launch customer for the Airbus A300 twin-engined widebodied plane, Airbus Industrie's first commercial airliner. Air France was a launch customer for the revolutionary, fly-by-wire (FBW) Airbus A320 narrowbody twin, along with Air Inter and British Caledonian. It became the first airline to take delivery of the A320 in March 1988.

In 1976 Air France became one of only two airlines - British Airways being the other - to introduce the Anglo-French BAC-Aérospatiale Concorde, the world's first and operationally only supersonic airliner, into commercial airline service.

The five Air France Concordes were grounded on May 31, 2003, as a result of insufficient demand following the 2000 accident, as well as higher fuel and maintenance costs. However, it is widely believed that Air France chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta's fear of personal criminal liability in the event of another Concorde accident was the real reason. Airbus's subsequent decision to stop supporting the in-service Concorde fleet forced British Airways to retire its own fleet. The Airbus decision to end Concorde support came at an inopportune time for British Airways as it had just completed a refurbishment of the aircraft's interiors and invested in post-2000 crash modifications. British Airways flew its last Concorde service on October 24, 2003. Concorde F-BVFA was transferred to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an annexe of the National Air & Space Museum in Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, near Washington Dulles Airport. F-BVFB was given to Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum in Germany, F-BTSD to the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace in Paris, while F-BVFC returned to its place of manufacture in Toulouse at the Airbus factory. F-BVFF is the only example to remain at Charles de Gaulle.^[23]

Air France signed as a launch customer for the Airbus A380 "superjumbo" in 2001.^[24]

Air France has begun the process of removing the Boeing 747s from its fleet, in favour of the Boeing 777-300ER. A letter of intent has been signed for 6 747s to be purchased and converted to freighters and it hopes to have completely phased out all 747s by 2013.^[25]

Cabin

Air France has three primary classes of international service: L'Espace Première (First), L'Espace Affaires (Business), and Tempo (Economy). European shorthaul flights feature Tempo class service. For flights to the Caribbean and Indian Ocean, a premium economy class, Alizé, is also offered.^[26] Inflight entertainment via AVOD (Audio Video on Demand) is available in select cabins.

L'Espace Première

L'Espace Première, Air France's longhaul first class product, is available on Boeing 777-300ER and Boeing 777-200ER aircraft. The L'Espace Première cabin features four to eight wood and leather seats which recline 180°, forming two meter long beds. Each seat features a 10.4" touchscreen TV monitor with interactive gaming and AVOD, a privacy divider, automassage feature, reading light, storage drawer, noise-cancelling headphones, personal telephone, and laptop power ports. À la carte on-demand meal services feature entrées created by chef Guy Martin. Turndown service includes a mattress, duvet and pillow. Private lounge access is offered worldwide.

L'Espace Affaires

L'Espace Affaires, Air France's longhaul business class product, is available on Airbus A330, Airbus A340, Boeing 747-400, Boeing 777-200ER, and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. L'Espace Affaires features lie-flat seats which recline to two meters in length. Each seat includes a 10.4" touchscreen TV monitor with interactive gaming and AVOD, reading light, personal telephone, and laptop power ports. Meal service features three-course meals and a cheese service, or an express menu served shortly after takeoff.

Tempo

Tempo, Air France's economy class product, features seats that recline up to 118°. The latest longhaul Tempo seat, which debuted on the Boeing 777-300ER, includes winged headrests, a personal telephone, and a touchscreen TV monitor with interactive gaming and partial AVOD, with films and programs restarting every 15 minutes. Shorthaul Tempo services are operated by Airbus A320 family aircraft with different seating arrangements. Air France is one of the few airlines who features winged headrests on shorthaul aircraft in both classes. On short haul flights, a three course cold meal is served. On long haul flights there is a choice between two main courses when available. Limited free alcoholic beverages are available on all flights. On flights over 10.5 hours, a self-service snack buffet is said to be available in the galley but is not always in operation.

Alizé

Alizé, Air France's premium economy product, is available on flights to the Caribbean and Indian Ocean (such as the Antilles, French Guiana, and Mauritius). On the Boeing 777-300ER, the Alizé cabin is located in front of the Tempo cabin and features 36 seats. Alizé seats recline up to 123° and feature massaging foot rests. A predeparture drink, enhanced meal service, and feather pillows and blankets are offered.

Codeshare agreements

In addition to its Brit Air, CityJet, Régional, and SkyTeam alliance partnerships, Air France offers frequent flyer partnerships with the following airlines:

Air India Aircalin Air Mauritius Air Seychelles Alaska Airlines Austrian Airlines Bulgaria Air CCM Airlines China Eastern Croatia Airlines Finnair JAL (Japan Airlines)

Iran Air Jet Airways LOT Polish Airlines Luxair MEA (Middle East Airlines) Qantas Royal Air Maroc SWISS TAM TAROM Tunisair

Subsidiaries

In partnership with Dutch affiliate, Transavia, Air France is to launch a new low-cost subsidiary to be based at Paris Orly and to begin operations in May 2007 with leisure route services in the Mediterranean and North Africa. It will operate four "Next Generation" Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Transavia is understood to have a 40% stake, with Air France holding the rest.^[27]

Incidents and accidents

There are numerous reported incidents and accidents involving Air France aircraft or their flights. Twelve of the reported accidents involved heavy loss of life.^[28]

Selected accidents and major incidents are listed below:

• On October 27, 1949 boxer Marcel Cerdan, violinist Ginette Neveu, some members of the Barnum & Bailey Circus and Walt Disney Studios chief merchandiser Kay Kamen^[29] died when an Air France flight crashed into a mountain after two failed attempts to land at the São Miguel Island airport in the Azores. [1]

• On the nights of June 12, 1950 and June 14, 1950, respectively, two Air France Douglas DC-4s (registration F-BBDE and F-BBDM, respectively) crashed into the sea off Bahrain while attempting to land, with a combined loss of 86 lives. (The first accident claimed the lives of 40 of the 53 occupants and the second 46 out of 52 occupants' lives. Both aircraft had operated the Karachi, Pakistan, to Bahrain portion of Air France's scheduled international Saigon, Vietnam - Paris sector.) The accident investigators concluded that the pilot in command did not maintain his correct altitude until the runway lights became visible during the approach to Bahrain in the first accident, and that the pilot in command did not keep an accurate check of his altitude and rate of descent during the approach procedure in the second accident. [2][3][4]

• On February 3, 1951 a Douglas DC-4 (registration F-BBDO) operating Air France's scheduled Douala, Cameroon, to Niamey, Niger, sector impacted the 13,354 feet high Cameroon Mountain near Bouea, Cameroon, west of Douala, at a height of 8,500 feet (2,600 m). The aircraft was destroyed, killing all 29 occupants. The mountain was probably only partially or faintly visible from the flight deck due to the mist surrounding it. Therefore, it was probably too late to climb over the mountain by the time the crew saw it. Although the pilot in command initiated immediate evasive action by turning sharply to the left, the plane hit the steeply rising terrain with its left wing. The accident investigators concluded that the crew followed an inaccurate procedure and relied on imprecise navigation. The investigators furthermore determined that the crew did not check the draft. Moreover, they cited the crew's error of judgement and over-confidence when flying over the mountain mass as additional contributory factors.[5]

• On March 3, 1952 a SNCASE SE-161 Languedoc (registration F-BCUM) operating a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Nice Le Var Airport to Paris Le Bourget Airport crashed shortly after takeoff with the loss of all 38 lives on board. Soon after takeoff from Le Var Airport, the aircraft began banking to the left. This increased progressively until the aircraft flipped over on its back and crashed. The accident investigators attributed the accident to the aircraft's blocked ailerons to the left, as a result of a mechanical fault related to the design.[6]

• On April 29, 1952 a Douglas C-54A (registration F-BELI) operating an internal German scheduled service from Frankfurt Rhein-Main Airport to Berlin Tempelhof Airport came under sustained attack from two Soviet MiG 15 fighters while passing through one of the Allied air corridors over East Germany. Although the attack had severely damaged the plane, necessitating the shutdown of engines number three and four, the pilot in command of the aircraft managed to carry out a safe emergency landing at West Berlin's Tempelhof Airport. A subsequent inspection of the aircraft's damage at Tempelhof revealed that it had been hit by 89 shots fired from the Soviet MiGs during the preceding air attack. There were no fatalities among the 17 occupants (six crew, eleven passengers) despite the severity of the attack. The Soviet military authorities defended this attack on an unarmed civilian aircraft by claiming the Air France plane was outside the air corridor at the time of attack.[7]

• On September 1, 1953 a Lockheed L-749A Constellation (registration F-BAZZ) operating the domestic Paris-Nice portion of an international scheduled passenger flight to Hong Kong crashed into Mount Cemet, France, with the loss of all 42 lives on board. The accident occurred while the flight deck crew was preparing to land at Nice's Côte d'Azur airport, the aircraft's first scheduled stop. The subsequent accident investigation established "controlled flight into terrain (CFIT)" as the cause.[8]

• On April 8, 1957 a Douglas C-47B (registration F-BEIK) operating a scheduled internal Algerian passenger flight from Biskra lost height after takeoff and crashed a mile beyond the airport's runway with the loss of all 34 lives on board.[9]

• On May 31, 1958 a Douglas C-47A (registration F-BHKV) operating a non-scheduled internal Algerian passenger flight from Algiers to Colomb-Béchard crashed near Molière with the loss of all 15 lives on board.[10]

• On August 29, 1960 a Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation (registration F-BHBC) operating flight AF343 from Paris to Abidjan, Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire), via Dakar, Senegal, crashed into the sea with the loss of all 63 lives on board while the aircraft's flight deck crew made a second attempt to land at Dakar's Yoff Airport.[11]

• On May 10, 1961 a Lockheed L-1649A Starliner (registration F-BHBM) operating the Fort Lamy (now N'Djamena), Chad, to Marseille Marignane portion of Air France's Brazzaville, Congo - Paris sector as flight AF406 crashed in the Sahara desert near Edjele, Algeria, with the loss of all 78 lives on board. The aircraft was cruising at an altitude of 20,000 feet (6,100 m) when its empennage suddenly failed. This caused it to break up in flight and crash in the Sahara desert. The accident investigators believed that the empennage separated from the rest of the aircraft as a result of the detonation of a nitrocellulose explosive device.[12]

• On September 12, 1961 a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III (registration F-BJTB) operating the Paris Orly-Rabat-Casablanca sector as flight AF2005 crashed near Rabat's Sale Airport with the loss of all 77 lives on board. At the time of the accident meteorological conditions in the local area were unfavourable due to thick, low fog. The poor weather conditions reduced horizontal visibility and ceiling. The pilot in command of the aircraft informed ATC that he wanted to attempt a break-through over the NDB. The aircraft was destroyed by the post-crash fire when it impacted the ground, killing everyone on board. The accident investigators cited the commander's error in reading his instruments as the most likely cause.[13]

• On June 3, 1962 a chartered Boeing 707-328 (registration F-BHSM) flying from Orly Airport, Paris, France, to Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, Atlanta, USA, crashed at Orly during takeoff. 130 out of a total of 132 people on board were killed. Two flight attendants sitting in the aft (tail or rear) section of the aircraft were saved. The investigation found a faulty servo motor, which had led to an improper (and non-adjustable) elevator trim. Brake marks measuring 1,500 feet (457 m) were found on the runway, indicating that the flight deck crew tried to abort takeoff. The aircraft rolled right while only seven feet (two m) from the ground, causing its right wing to hit the ground. It crashed 50 yards (45 m) from the runway and exploded. [14]

• On June 22, 1962 Air France flight 117, operated with a Boeing 707-328 (registration F-BHST), crashed into a forest on a hill at an altitude of about 4,000 feet (1,200 m) during bad weather, while attempting to land at Point-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, West Indies, killing all 113 on board. The aircraft was attempting a non-precision NDB approach. A malfunctioning VOR station and poor NDB reception due to thunderstorms in the area were blamed for the accident. [15][16]

• On March 6, 1968 a Boeing 707-328C (registration F-BLCJ) operating the Caracas-Point-à-Pitre sector of Air France flight 212 impacted the southern slope of La Soufrière Mountain at an altitude of 3,937 feet, 27.5 km SSW of Le Raizet Airport with the loss of all 63 lives on board. When ATC had cleared the flight deck crew for a visual approach to Le Raizet's runway 11, the crew had reported the airfield in sight. Flight 212 started to descend from FL90 and passed Saint Claude at an altitude of about 4,400 feet (1,300 m). The accident investigators cited a visual approach procedure at night in which the descent was begun from an incorrectly identified point as the probable cause.[17]

• On September 11, 1968 a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III (registration F-BOHB) operating the domestic Ajaccio, Corsica - Nice sector as flight AF1611 crashed into the sea near Cap d'Antibes off Nice with the loss of all 95 lives on board. The accident occurred while the flight deck crew attempted an emergency landing at Côte d'Azur Airport, following the detection of an onboard fire in the aircraft's rear cabin 21 minutes after takeoff from Ajaccio. The accident investigators believed that the fire had started in the right lavatory and galley area.[18]

• On December 4, 1969 a Boeing 707-328B (registration F-BHSZ) operating the Caracas-Point-à-Pitre sector of Air France flight 212 crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff from Simon Bolivar International Airport with the loss of all 62 lives on board.[19]

• On June 12, 1975 a Boeing 747-128 (registration N28888) operating the sector between what was then Bombay (now Mumbai), India, and Tel Aviv, Israel, of flight AF193 to Paris Charles de Gaulle was destroyed by fire on the ground at Bombay's Santa Cruz Airport, following an aborted takeoff. The aircraft's number eleven tyre on its right-hand main undercarriage had failed while the flight deck crew was executing a 180 degree turn at the beginning of Santa Cruz Airport's runway 27. When the flight deck crew began its takeoff run, the aircraft's number twelve tyre failed as well. At that point the plane's wheels and braking assembly came into direct contact with the runway, thereby starting a fire. When this came to the crew's attention, it aborted takeoff. The ensuing delay in shutting down the engines, as well as the improper deployment of the airport's fire service, caused the fire to spread, leading to the plane's total destruction. There were no fatalities among the 394 occupants (18 crew and 376 passengers).[20]

• On June 27, 1976 an Airbus A300 (registration F-BVGG) operating flight AF139 from Tel Aviv to Paris via Athens was hijacked shortly after departing Athens. After refueling in Benghazi, Libya the hijackers demanded it be flown to Entebbe, Uganda. One hostage was freed in Benghazi and in Uganda another 155 non Israeli or Jewish hostages were released. The flight crew remained with the hostages after Captain Bacos insisted he was responsible for them. After several days of negotiating and diplomatic diplomacy Israel launched a commando raid into Entebbe to free them. During the assault all 6 of the hijackers were killed as were 3 hostages. The leader of the assault was also killed. One hostage was unaccounted for. She had been taken to Mulago Hospital prior to the assault and later killed on Idi Amin's order.

• On January 18, 1984 an explosion in the cargo hold of a Boeing 747 en route from Karachi, Pakistan, to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, shortly after departing Karachi blew a hole in the right rear cargo hold. The resulting loss of cabin pressure necessitated an immediate descent to 5,000 feet (1,500 m). The aircraft returned to Karachi without any fatalities among the 261 occupants (15 crew and 246 passengers).[21]

• On December 2, 1985, a power control cable for engine one of a Boeing 747-228B (registration F-GCBC) arriving from Paris-CDG was broken while landing on runway 15 of Rio de Janeiro-Galeão International Airport, Brazil. As a consequence, the engine went over maximum takeoff power while the jet was being braked, causing a loss of control that led the aircraft out of the runway and through a ditch, before colliding with a concrete barrier at the airport's cargo apron, one of its wings almost touching a building with flammable material and a very short distance from the refueling station for Varig's ground vehicles. All 273 passengers and crew were safely evacuated with no major injuries, but the aircraft was written off. In the following days, Air France was harshly criticised in the Brazilian press for being extremely quick to paint out the company name on the airframe to avoid bad publicity. Among the passengers were Brazilian football (soccer) national team's former trainer Telê Santana and acclaimed theatre director and writer Augusto Boal.[22]

• On June 26, 1988, flight 296, Airbus A320-111 (registration F-GFKC) crashed near the airfield of Mulhouse Habsheim, in the Franco-German border region of Alsace. The accident occurred during an airshow while the flight deck crew was performing a flypast at low height and speed. The aircraft overflew the airfield in good weather. Seconds later the aircraft struck treetops behind the runway and crashed into a forest, as a result of flying too low, as well as too slow. Three passengers died in the accident and about 50 were injured.^[30]

• On December 24, 1994, Flight 8969, an Airbus A300B2-1C was hijacked in Houari Boumedienne Airport in Algiers, Algeria by four terrorists who belonged to the Armed Islamic Group. The terrorists intended to crash the plane F-GBEC over the Eiffel Tower on Boxing Day. After a failed attempt to leave Marseille after a confrontational firefight with the terrorists and the GIGN French Special Forces, the GIGN shot dead all four terrorists and all 173 hostages survived after the storming of the plane on the terminal front, where snipers on the roof shot dead two of the terrorists. The other two terrorists died by gunshots in the cabin after around twenty minutes. The damage to the almost fifteen year old aircraft resulting from the rescue was so severe that it was no longer airworthy and the airframe had to be written off.

• On September 5, 1996, an incident occurred on a Boeing 747 in mid-air near Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Turbulence caused injuries to three passengers. One died later, as a result of injuries received from an in-flight film projection screen. [23] [24].

• On April 20, 1998 an Air France flight from Bogotá's Eldorado Airport, Colombia, to Quito, Ecuador, using an aircraft leased from TAME and flown by Ecuadorian crew, crashed into a mountain near Bogotá. All 43 passengers and 10 crew died. [25] [26].

• On March 5, 1999 an ex-UTA Boeing 747-2B3F (SCD) freighter (registration F-GPAN) carrying a revenue load of 66 tons of cargo on flight AF6745 from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Chennai Meenambakkam Airport, India, via Karachi, Pakistan and Bangalore Hindustan Airport, India, crash-landed, caught fire and burned out. Meenambakkam ATC had cleared the aircraft for an ILS approach to the airport's runway 07. The crew abandoned the approach due to technical difficulties. The aircraft circled to attempt a second approach. At the end of the second approach, the aircraft's nose struck the runway while touching down because its nose gear was either not down or not locked. The plane skidded and came to rest 7,000 feet (2,100 m) down the 13,050 ft. runway. After it had come to a standstill, the crew noticed smoke on the flight deck and began to extinguish the flames. Soon after, flames erupted in the aircraft's front section. One crew member managed to escape from the flight deck via a rope ladder. The remaining four crew members were rescued by the airport fire service from the rear, before the flames engulfed the entire aircraft. The fire service was unable to extinguish the fire, as a result of which the aircraft burned out.[27]^[31]

• On July 25, 2000, flight 4590, a Concorde (registration F-BTSC) charter departing from De Gaulle airport in Paris bound for New York's JFK Airport crashed just after takeoff in Gonesse, France, impacting a hotel. All 109 people on board died, plus four persons on the ground. According to the accident investigation report, the probable cause was the destruction of one of the aircraft's main wheel tyres, as a result of passing at high speed over a part lost by a pre-departing aircraft during the takeoff run, and the subsequent piercing of one of the fuel tanks by a piece of the exploding tyre, which ignited the leaking jet fuel and caused a severe loss of thrust in engine number one and two in quick succession.^[32]

• On August 2, 2005, flight 358, an Airbus A340-313X (registration F-GLZQ) with 297 passengers and 12 crew on board, overran the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport in bad weather conditions. All occupants survived, but a post-crash fire destroyed the aircraft.^[33]

• On May 12, 2007, Andrew Speaker, a passenger infected with a contagious, drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis travelled on flight 385 from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport to Paris CDG, where he connected to flight 1232 to Athens. The passenger allegedly took various flights on Olympic Airlines. Speaker returned to the US on May 24, 2007 via Czech Airlines flight 104 from Prague to Montréal and drove to New York City using a rented car. The CDC issued a warning to quarantine the individual and anyone who came into contact with him to prevent the spread of the disease. [28]

In addition to the accidents listed above, Air France has also been the target of several hijackings. These hijackings occurred in the following sequence:

• 1973 Marseille
• 1976 Benghazi (Operation Entebbe) - see below - and Ho Chi Minh City
• 1977 Benghazi
• 1983 Geneva
• 1984 Geneva, twice
• 1989 Algiers
• 1993 Nice
• 1994 Algiers - see below
• 1999 Paris.

• On June 27, 1976 flight 139 from Tel Aviv to Paris via Athens was hijacked by a Palestinian group, who diverted it to Benghazi, Libya, for refuelling. After spending seven hours on the ground at Benghazi Airport, the Airbus A300 and its 260 occupants were then taken to Entebbe, Uganda, where they were rescued by Israeli soldiers the following week.

• In 1994, a group of men from the Algerian group GIA hijacked flight 8969, intending to crash it into the Eiffel Tower. The timely intervention of the French GIGN, the French government's specialist counter-terrorism task force and hostage rescue unit, foiled the hijackers' designs.

On December 24, 2003, three Air France flights bound for Los Angeles International Airport were cancelled because of fears that terrorists were planning to target these flights.

Livery

Current Livery

Air France's current livery is a Eurowhite scheme, composing of a white fuselage with blue Air France titles and a white tail with a series of parallel red and blue lines streaking across the tail at an angle, and a small European flag at the top. This livery has been in use since the late 70s.

Previous Liveries

Prior to the current livery, Air France aircraft had a bare-metal underside, extending up to a blue cheat-line that ran across the cabin windows. Above the cheat-line the fuselage was again white, with Air France titles and a French flag. The tail was white with two thick blue lines, which tapered from the rear of the tail and met at point towards the front bottom. This basic livery, albeit with minor variations would appear on all post-war Air France aircraft until the late 70s.

Photos at: DC-3 (circa 1950s) - [29] Caravelle (circa 1960s) - [30] A300-B (circa 1970s) - [31]

Additional facts

• The song featured in the Air France commercials, and the song played before and after Air France flights is "Between Us" by the band Aswefall.

• There are ranks for the flight attendants. Two silver sleeve stripes denote a Chief Purser. One silver sleeve stripe denote a Purser. Flight Attendants do not have any sleeve stripes.

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References